Brundtland is on the Board of Directors of the United Nations Foundation and is also a member of The Elders, an independent group of high-profile global leaders who work together to promote peace and human rights. She was a Special Envoy on Climate Change for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and a member of the Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Global Sustainability that aimed to create a new blueprint for achieving low-carbon prosperity in the 21st century.

A medical doctor who also earned a master’s degree in public health, Brundtland spent 10 years as a physician and scientist in the Norwegian public health system. For more than 20 years, she served in public office and was elected director-general of the World Health Organization in 1998, where her many skills as doctor, politician, activist and manager came together.

At the age of 41, Brundtland was appointed prime minister of Norway in 1981 and was the youngest person and the first woman ever to hold that office. Serving in that position also from 1986 to 1989 and 1990 to 1996, she was head of the Norwegian government for more than 10 years. Throughout her political career, Brundtland developed a growing concern for issues of global significance. With her strong belief of the link between health and the environment, she became Norway’s minister of the environment in 1974.